1. Field
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to a technique for exporting and importing environment setting information of an application.
2. Description of the Related Art
A user sets environment setting information for an application. For example, the environment setting information includes a size and a position of an application screen, display order of icons and files, and a path to an operation folder. The user can improve operability of operations and work efficiency by setting the environment setting information according to a use case or a job workflow.
However, if the environment setting information includes a large number of setting items, an initial setting load after installation of an application increases. In particular, when the user changes a work environment to a new computer, or when re-installation of the application is required due to a system upgrade, it becomes necessary for the user to reset the environment setting information, which is burdensome.
To solve such an issue, there is a method for inheriting past environment setting information or the environment setting information generated by an administrator. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-99267 discusses a technique in which setting change information of changes for an application is stored. When the application is reinstalled, the stored setting change information is read and the setting is changed.
However, with the technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-99267, there is a possibility that an operation intended by the user may not be realized. For example, if the environment setting information includes reference information of a folder or a file, such information may become unusable if there is a change in a version of an operating system (OS) or an apparatus which uses the environment setting information. In other words, when using the environment setting information, an operation intended by the user may not be realized.